A/N: Hey guys! I hope you are all doing okay, I hope everyone is having a great start of December! Yay! Haha. Now all of the action starts in this chapter, and I'm thankful that I didn't leave you guys hanging for too long. The updates have been pretty quick lately, and I hope to finish this before a couple weeks before Christmas, because I will be getting busier around then.

Enjoy this chapter, and please review! I'm not sure about the turn-out of this, so feel free to make suggestions or comments at any time! Thanks guys, your support is the best.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

Chapter 15

Taylor groaned loudly, and made known to everyone around her that she was about to bang her head hard, VERY hard on the solid table top of her desk. Chad jumped as he heard her head crash onto it, and softly patted her on the back. Truthfully, Taylor was tired of the constant nagging and questioning she had been getting the past few days from many people at her school, mainly Sharpay if course, demanding to be told where Gabriella was and why. But she really couldn't blame them.

If she hadn't had known, she would be wondering too. Especially since Troy hadn't been informed by her. And he was by far the closest person to her since she moved here. Oh how wrong people thought Taylor told herself bitterly, knowing no one besides her knew that Troy was probably, at the moment, the person farthest from her heart.

But yet again, she couldn't blame them.

Her headaches started acting up again, and felt Chad rubbing her back as she moved her fingers across her forehead in slow, circular motions. He had been there for her the past few days, even though he was still completely clueless. And it killed her for doing so...but she promised Gabriella. It had gotten so bad, that everyday after school she would call Gabriella, and Gabriella would continue to apologize over and over again, telling her that she was sorry for the trouble she was causing, and would eventually make it up to her, and promised to explain as much as she could to the questioners when she returned.

Taylor thankfully, could not be happier that today was the day Gabriella was returning. And with a surprise...out of her own amusement, she couldn't help but think that things were going to get interesting in a few moments. At that thought, she took a quick glance over at Troy, who was at the moment, looking at Taylor as well. He had been concerned for her, knowing very well she was getting questioned too much for her own good, and she was completely stressed. Nodding quickly over at Taylor, he ducked his head away, and turned around to talk to Zeke, pretending that hardly anything happened.

Taylor blew out a breath, that coincidently blew a strand of hair out of her face, as she faced back towards the front. The bell shrilly rang, and the door slammed shut, as her teacher glided across the floor to the attendance sheet.

"Good morning students, please settled down, I have an announcement" Mrs. Brooks boomed loudly, and all the students instantly clapped their mouths shut, hinting at the informative voice their teacher was speaking in. Mrs. Brooks smiled at all of the sudden light whispers went on around the classroom, "I have just been informed that Ms. Montez will be back today...in fact in a few moments, with a guest actually..."

That was enough to get the students whispering around like crazy, and the teach sighed knowing that she would never get a word in now. "Students! I would appreciate your full attention, please!" Her voice grew louder after every word, and the students impatiently turned to her, to listen to any other announcements. "Thank you...now I would like you all not to bombard Gabriella with questions as soon as she comes in...I've heard quite the stories this week, and would not like my classroom to turn into a drama-fest while I try to teach, so if you must, please wait to burst out in questions, after class."

The door creaked open slightly, and the very familiar brunette stepped in, her eyes shining as if it was the first day of school all over again. Gabriella smiled slightly, moving in further, grinning like a mad woman as she let her blonde friend move into full view as well. The whisperers broke out again, although the noise kept to a minimum, all getting hostile glances from their teacher.

"Class" Mrs. Brooks stated, as she held out her arms to gesture at the friend standing next to Gabriella, standing poised and tall, acting just like Sharpay, "Ms. Montez wants me to introduce her friend Shelly Walters, that came to visit her all the way from New York City. She will be here for a few days, so please make her feel welcome as a guest should feel. You make take the empty seat next to Ms. Montez, dear."

"Thanks!" Shelly exclaimed perkily, and followed Gabriella towards the back, sliding gracefully into the seat next to Gabriella, and setting her designer purse on the desktop.

Gabriella however, struggled to keep her eyes to adverting directly to Troy's gaze, which she knew was on her, knowing it was hard to do because she was so used to coming in and he being the first person she even cared to glance at in the morning. And this time around, it was the exactly least place she would care to be, and he being the exactly least person she wanted to see.

She slipped quickly into the seat, her hair slightly flying around, and her back immediately turned to Troy. Even though she wasn't certain if Troy was staring at her still, she felt as if his gaze would burn holes in the back of her neck at any moment.

"Gabriella!" A loud voice shrieked, and Gabriella suddenly felt someone hit her lightly on the shoulder. Of course it was Sharpay, her face lighting up when Gabriella finally looked up and noticed her, "Welcome back, hon. We missed you!"

Gabriella giggled lightly, and swiftly cast an amusing glance towards Shelly, who was quite impressed about Sharpay. Of course, Shelly had been informed all about Sharpay Evans, and Gabriella giggled knowing that the two of them would probably become faster friends than Gabriella and Sharpay had become.

"I really love your name, Sharpay! I'm Shelly! Oh my God...our name's both start with S's! Isn't that just the coolest thing? We could get matching "S" necklaces!" Shelly clapped her hands with excitement, and Gabriells suddenly felt like leaning back, so her friends on both sides of her could talk evenly over her. But then she was reminded of who was sitting right behind her...and suddenly that feeling of longing washed over her, and she knew that if nothing had happened, she would be in his arms at the moment, him toying with her hair as they would just enjoy the prescence of each other, that way they would be telling each other without words how much they missed each other.

"Yeah, and Gabriella can get a necklace with a "T" on it!" Sharpay joked, completely unaware of how Gabriella's breath seemed to hitch into her throat, and how Troy had managed to overhear, and completely stiffen in his seat. Gabriella suddenly felt clammy, and Troy's whole body seemed to be a lot closer to her than he actually appeared.

Sharpay however, quit joking around, as she noticed Shelly suddenly grew quiet too, and watched as she was now acting as if she was more interested in her nails. Before she could say anymore though, Mrs. Brooks clapped her hands loudly, and all of the students hushed up.

"Okay everyone...you've had your fun. Now it's time to get back to work, everyone please open you pages back up to 107, and we'll continue from yesterday's lesson...Ms. Montez, you might just want to ask Mr. Bolton behind you, or someone else around you, if you wish, about what you have to catch up on.

Gabriella nodded to notify Mrs. Brooks that she had heard her, and instantly leaned over to Sharpay and whispered, "Hey Shar, what did I miss out on?"

Everyone seemed to have noticed that whole exchange. The fact that Gabriella went with asking Sharpay about the homework instead of Troy, even after Mrs. Brooks had pointedly mentioned his name, and everyone thought that no matter what he would be the first person she turned to anyways.

Sharpay's mouth was slightly agape as she looked into Gabriella's questioning stare for a moment, before blinking her eyes over to Troy, who was pursing his lips, and looked away as if he was annoyed and incomfortable with the whole situation. Pursing her own lips as well, she turned back to Gabriella in sudden realization, but after a moment she had decided to fake her smile anyways,

"Uhm, how about I just come over to your house after school to tell you all about it? Then maybe we can catch up and everything..." Sharpay hinted on, but Gabriella didn't seem to notice, as she just shrugged coolly and muttered out an, "Okay", before turning around in her seat to pay attention to the teacher.

Sharpay however, seemed to be horrified. It just can't be...

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

Gabriella slammed her lunch tray down at their usual table in the cafeteria, and blew out a large breath, before placing her head firmly into her hands and groaning. Shelly sympathetically whispered to her that everything was all right, and they would all get over themselves eventually, as Sharpay walked around and sat on her other side.

"Oh come on Gabriella...I know this is hard, but you can't blame them for being curious...I mean, you haven't exactly explained anything yet" Sharpay tried to reason with her best friend, even though she knew she wasn't helping. Truthfully, Sharpay wanted to know the truth. She was tired of Gabriella beating around the bush about it, and she had so many questions, she felt as if she was about to burst.

"Not now Shar..." Gabriella mumbled tiredly into her hands, just as Taylor, Chad, and Troy made their way to the table and sat down. They all seemed to be listening in more than eating, hearing Gabriella's last exchange of words.

"But Gabi, I..." Sharpay tried to continued, but all Gabriella did was lift up her head, and stare unbelievably at one of her best friends.

Cutting her off, Gabriella brushed off any of her questions as she finished coolly, "No Shar...I said not now. Please...I thought we were going to talk about this after school?"

Sharpay heard the pleading in Gabriella's voice, watching as her friend slowly but surely strayed her eyes over the three people who had now joined them at the table. Sharpay was about to say more, but Gabriella firmly clenched her teeth, "Please Shar..."

Sharpay sighed defeated, and Gabriella almost felt like wiping pretend sweat off her forehead, casually sending a glance over at Taylor, and they both exchanged grateful looks.

However this whole exchange didn't go unnoticed by Sharpay, who suddenly felt compelled to not drop the subject. "Gabriella...why can't you just tell me what's going on? I mean I'm not stupid, but I thought we were on the same page...I thought we were best friends?" Sharpay dejectedly managed to whisper out softly, and Gabriella suddenly felt like she was about to be riled up.

"Shar...please, don't guilt me into this..."

"Gabriella, I'm not!" Sharpay shot back almost instantly, and Gabriella feared that something was about to happen as she heard the whole cafeteria grow quiet, everyone in a sudden interest to the conversation, "But seriously, enough is enough. I know you've told Taylor what's going on, the fact that she has been trying so hard to keep her mouth shut over the few days, and there's also the fact that you haven't even as merely looked in Troy's direction ONCE since you've been back! What's going on...I mean, were you running away?"

Gabriella felt sudden pain through her eyes, and she knew her vision was going to blur any moment...she felt like she needed to get out, and run away from everything. She didn't know if she could hold in all of her emotions any longer, she didn't know if she was strong enough to handle this.

"Sharpay, enough!" Taylor sharply hissed, trying to calm her friend down, but that certainly didn't push any of her buttons far enough, the blonde more focused on pushing some of Gabriella's buttons.

"Shar you don't understand..." Shelly tried to reason with her new friend at the same time as Taylor, but she only had her eyes focused on Gabriella, who was painfully looking away. She glared forcefully over in Troy's direction, who seemed to sigh loudly, as if he didn't know what to do.

Finally Sharpay glared back at Gabriella, tears suddenly stinging her eyes. "I-I thought we were best friends...and now I guess we aren't. I mean, I know you were equally friends with Taylor, but it still hurts that you told her and not me...and..."

Gabriella was fed up. She was fed up on all of the intense glares, all of the whisperers, all of the curious glances that were sent her way every moment throughout that day so far. She knew that things were bad, the way Taylor explained it to her, but she didn't know things were this bad. "Sharpay, this isn't about YOU! Just shut up, damnit!"

The loudness of her voice made everyone feel like covering their ears, but didn't seem to have the will to move an inch from their spot, afraid they would miss something. Chills ran down Gabriella's spine as she recalled the words she had just spoken, instantly regretting it all. The monster of Gabriella had been awakened, and now she felt she was using her strength too much, as if she was taking advantage of it.

Gabriella bursted away from all of the silent students, each moving out of her way quickly as she brushed passed them without a glance. She had to get out; she didn't know where to, but she had to get out.

However, back at the table, Troy was the first one to stand up...the first one to take a step forward...and the first person to chase after her. Everyone gasped as they saw Troy burst through the cafeteria doors that Gabriella just went through, chasing after her.

People seemed to chaotically move towards the doors, pushing people out of the way so they could see the action, while Taylor and Shelly stayed behind to comfort a distraught Sharpay.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

"Gabriella, stop!" Troy roared as he stepped out of the cafeteria, grabbing ahold of her hand quickly, swiftly turning her around to him.

"WHAT?" Gabriella sputtered out in his face, her breath coming out in a rage. "Now you decided to talk to me?" Her tone was quite cold, her breathing coming out in ragged, shaky breaths. "That's rich, Troy...I don't need you to be the one telling me that I made a mistake about yelling at Sharpay, considering your circumstances...I already feel guilty enough anyways..." She hissed harshly, starting to turn around and walk off, until she felt a tug on her hand.

"Now just hold it a second...why are you so mad at me? I haven't been the liar here! I wasn't the one who ran off to New York without so much a word to Taylor, who most likely just happened to be in the right place, at the wrong time!" Troy shot back, the anger flashing through his eyes, and Gabriella would be lying if she had said that his voice and eyes hadn't nerved her a bit.

Instead though, she ended up letting out a bitter laugh, "Me? Me? I'm not the one who chose...who chose to TRUST some idiot who you don't even know, over your own girlfriend who told you every detail of her LIFE!"

Troy took a step back, his ocean blues eyes growing colder and colder. "Apparently I wasn't enough though, apparently you didn't manage to mention every detail of your life..." He fired back, stepping another foot towards her.

"You want to know? Fine!" Gabriella suddenly burst out, flapping her arms wildly as she managed to break free of her wrist from Troy's wrist, and she seemed to turn around in circles for a moment. "I knew Lucas...yes, we dated...but it ended when I found out I was moving here! No, we didn't mutually end it, saying that it was best if we didn't have a long distance relationship. It never got to that point, because I DUMPED him."

Gabriella was completely riled up now, as she resumed her position she was in before she started pacing around, and stared Troy directly and truthfully into the eye. "I dumped him, because he chose that moment to show me the true asshole he really was, by dissing out my mom. And of course, the whole thing he started between you and me, didn't help defend him on any part!" She continued to speak, not even bothering to glance over at Troy to read his expression, too caught up in her own words, not afraid at all that she may stumble over them in the end.

"Then you, of course...being an asshole that I know you aren't, decided to believe that idiot over me, and look where we are now! Like THIS! You asshole!" Gabriella sputtered out angrily, suddenly aware of the closeness of both of their mouths, their noses almost touching.

Gabriella noticed Troy wasn't speaking...he hadn't in a long time...

FLASHBACK

She stared intently into Lucas's eyes, and saw complete carelessness. "You asshole" Gabriella sputtered out angrily, grabbing her purse from the porch railing, and stomping off down the driveways without another word.

END FLASHBACK

Gabriella took a step back from Troy, in a sudden daze of realization, that history felt like it was repeating itself. "What...Gabriella, what?" Troy spoke, concerned for her, trying to reach out to touch her, but she just kept backing away. "Gabriella what's..."

"I guess this is goodbye Troy..." Gabriella said softly, not even caring to look at Troy's expression, afraid she was going to see a face that would make her regret her decision of leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

Well, Part 1 is finished! I hope it wasn't to intense, even though I had warned you guys that everything was about to start heating up...lol. I also know I probably made Troy seem like an asshole, and I probably made Sharpay a newly hated person...but I hope you guys understand why. haha.

Anyways, what do you guys hope for in the last chapter? I am about to give you guys a little preview, but also a little game. I'm going to give you guys a line from the next chapter, and you can guess who's going to say it. If you guess correctly, I will PM you with an even bigger selection from the next chapter.

Here it goes:

"Trust is...is a hard word to think about sometimes. Sometimes, you might just want to forget about that fact in the heat of the moment, only to regret it in the long run."

Any guesses? Haha, choose wisely! In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please review and tell me your thoughts in this. Please be honest and don't worry if you have to tell me if you didn't like something about it...I love it when people give me their opinions, so I know exactly how to level everything in the next chapter! Thanks you guys, PLEASE REVIEW!